A much better Bunnahabhain at cask strength

We were not entirely over the moon when we tasted the standard 12 years old bottling of the Bunnahabhain Distillery. At that time, I sadly had no cask strength edition at hand to do a head-to-head tasting of two standard bottlings (instead we compared with an independent Bunna). And then I came across an offer somewhere in the big whisky sharing world on Zuckerberg’s network. The Bunnahabhain cask strength 12 years old is a rather recent addition to the offerings of this Islay distillery, first introduced in 2021. It is exactly that bottle we got a sample from. Here we go!

Bunnahabhain 12 years old, bottled at 55,1 % abv

Makeup: This is a 2021 bottled edition. A celebration of the Bunnahabhain house style, according to the label. Matured in ex-sherry casks and no further tinkering.

General impressions: Indeed, this is all in on sherry, with an abundance of raisins, chocolate malt, and candy bars. Now, this is the Bunnahabhain I know. It stays close to woody notes, forest moods, and a hint of floral impressions. Lots of toffee. On the tongue, the liquid is very soft and gentle, with delicate (milky) chocolate notes, cinnamon, nutmeg, hazelnuts, and certainly some spices. It feels very balanced and welcoming. I dare say you should avoid adding some water, but I am a curious blogger so I will check anyway. On the finish, I picked up a little rubber dryness. Let's see if water washes that away. Nah, it stays basically the same.

Conclusion: Very much a chocolate malt, with enough malty backbone to stay firmly connected to whisky. I am deeply impressed by this bottling, I have to say. Eclipses the standard 12 years old.

Score: 87 points

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